Do you really need another reason to avoid using any Google services?

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Here's a nice little primer on ways you can pivot from people's activity on one Google service, to others, even though there is no direct way to do this on Google's web interface- which may have lulled you into a false sense of safety when using Google yourself. And, of course, if this guy knows it, PIs know it, pigs know it, intelligence agencies know it.

After my ‘Week in OSINT #2019–49’ went live, I received questions about Google userID’s, how you can find them and what you can actually do with them. So I decided it was time to write a short article about it.
The Deal with Google ID’s
Everybody who owns a Google account may not be aware of it, but Google uses a lot of different numbers, ID’s, signatures, account names, randomly chosen gobbledygook and meaningless strings to identify your account. Not everything can be tied together in an easy way, but there are a few handy shortcuts when you are looking at Gmail addresses or a YouTube account for instance. I am not able to do this in bulk yet, but I know there are people out there that might be able to make that happen.

First of all, from back in the days of Google+ every account that got connected to Google apps like Maps and Photos, have a unique ID. The ID used to be visible when you opened up a Google+ page from someone, or viewed their photo album.

Just a random photo album out there

But is it possible to find out from just a GMail address what photos someone posted online? Or what reviews they left behind? Or maybe even track the YouTube playlist they created? Yes, that is indeed possible.

But for that, we first need to find out what the userID is for a specific GMail address that you have. For that, I dove into the dump of Iron March and I filtered out all the mail addresses ending on @gmail.com and started to write.

It continues in a lot more depth..
https://archive.is/KlXMz#selection-263.0-303.232

And..

https://archive.is/5JeMz

 

[Bad Headspace]

Well, if anybody actually takes their dissident politics seriously they should avoid the big tech companies, being too active online and "smart" devices like plague. It's crazy how many us nationalist groups still have Discord servers etc.

At least try making an effort in not being doxxed.

PS: Google and their public code always exposes their pranks just like the YT ratings etc that was discovered in the source page.

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

because as much as I hate Google Apple phones are fucking trash

 

[Bionicle of War]

What am I supposed to do when my work and school both require google email, with no way to opt out?

 

[Coolio55]

This is cool. When somebody uses it to post tranny addresses it will cease to be cool and all the people posting in the comments will then post and .

 

[Fascist Frederick]

What am I supposed to do when my work and school both require google email, with no way to opt out?

Make a google email that you use only for work and school?

 

[Bionicle of War]

Make a google email that you use only for work and school?

This is pretty much what I do. My point is that sometimes using google is simply unavoidable. Any advice on how to mitigate the damage done in cases like these?

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

This is pretty much what I do. My point is that sometimes using google is simply unavoidable. Any advice on how to mitigate the damage done in cases like these?

Are you retarded?

You mitigate damage done by not tying any of your online activity to that Google account. Only use it for work. Do not use your real name which is tied to that account in other non-work or school environments. Do not tie your nigger hating 8chan /pol/ account to it.

It's not hard.

 

[Fascist Frederick]

This is pretty much what I do. My point is that sometimes using google is simply unavoidable. Any advice on how to mitigate the damage done in cases like these?

As long as you keep your "identities" separate there's no damage done.

EDIT: Ninja'd by Varg.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

Ideally you want two browsers on your computer - one where you use one profile, another with the other (if you're using multiple Google accounts). If not, then one dedicated "work/school only" browser where you do NOT do sensitive shit because that's the one with the Google account and any site you visit that has Google integration is possibly tracking you there.

 

[Bionicle of War]

Are you exceptional?

You mitigate damage done by not tying any of your online activity to that Google account. Only use it for work. Do not use your real name which is tied to that account in other non-work or school environments. Do not tie your nigger hating 8chan /pol/ account to it.

It's not hard.

As long as you keep your "identities" separate there's no damage done.

EDIT: Ninja'd by Varg.

Again, this is pretty much exactly what I do. I made a google account specifically for things like this. I try to be very careful about keeping it seperate from my other online activity. I actually use three browsers; one only for work and school, one for normal internet browsing, and TOR for sites that I wouldn't want to get caught browsing under any circumstance, like most of the communities documented on this very forum.

The question I asked was mainly from a technical angle. It seems like there are always undisclosed background processes going on with this sort of thing. I was asking if, when I do have to make use of google services, there was anything I could do to minimize the data being collected from these services.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

Again, this is pretty much exactly what I do. I made a google account specifically for things like this. I try to be very careful about keeping it seperate from my other online activity. The question I asked was mainly from a technical angle. It seems like there are always undisclosed background processes going on with this sort of thing. I was asking if, when I do have to make use of google services, there was anything I could do to minimize the data being collected from these services.

Check your Task Manager for GoogleDataScraper.exe and force quit it if you see it.

Seriously though think about installing Noscript and HTTPS Everywhere and learn how they work. And then just don't allow Google scripts to run on websites where you don't need Google shit

 

[XYZpdq]

google docs are really handy for mundane work shit

 

[Pissmaster]

because as much as I hate Google Apple phones are fucking trash

Yeah, pretty much. Fingerprint scanners are bad enough, but I've had a job that required them, so I guess my fingerprints are out there. But newer Apple phones ditching that in favor of an infrared facial scanner that models the exact shape and detail of your face to unlock your phone? Hahahahaha fuck off Apple

 

[Tookie]

Did people not realize this?

 

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This is pretty much what I do. My point is that sometimes using google is simply unavoidable. Any advice on how to mitigate the damage done in cases like these?

As @Varg Did Nothing Wrong says, totally segregate it from normal internet use. Most Google stuff can be used from Tor Browser.. keep a seperate copy of the Tor Browser Bundle for that stuff. You can turn off clearing of cookies for that one copy of the browser to reduce the amount of times you have to log in, but don't use it for any normal browsing, and don't use anything you don't need to in there. Lock down all privacy settings you can.

Did people not realize this?

I certainly hadn't realised just how easy it was to pivot from, say, a Google Drive document to getting to someone's photos or Google business reviews. This technique takes it from being something that you're concerned about police or nation state actors doing, to random psychos on the internet or terrorist NGOs like Canary Mission or the SPLC.

 

[CrunkLord420]

I have legacy gmail accounts that I want to keep, but I've discontinued my use of all other google services not just for privacy reasons but because I'm concerned my entire account may be arbitrarily terminated. During the Christchurch Shooting people were losing accounts to TERRORISM because they had the video in their google drive, despite it being totally legal in most countries including the US. People lost their accounts for "spamming" during a YouTube livestream because they were directed to "vote with emojis" by the streamer.

Personally I use an alternative browser for gmail logins to keep things segregated.

Putting my YouTube subscriptions in RSS helped out a ton. I don't really need Google Drive, I'd rather use literally any other provider (which there are many).

 

[Grotesque Bushes]

because as much as I hate Google Apple phones are fucking trash

You can root your phone and install LineageOS [or any other open source Android fork/alternative] and use an app store other than Google Play. There are more than two options here.

 

[TFT-A9]

because as much as I hate Google Apple phones are fucking trash

Well, there were Windows phones for a bit, but... lol.

Mobile market is not a good one right now due to the Apple/Android duopoly but I can't see it changing any time soon.

You can root your phone and install LineageOS [or any other open source Android fork/alternative] and use an app store other than Google Play. There are more than two options here.

There is this, yes, but average folks who want to break free of the duopoly are probably going to need handholding on this. I'd consider doing it if I cared enough, I have an older unlocked Moto I could probably faff about with a bit (if it would RUN LineageOS, which I'm not certain of).

 

[Distant Stare]

My university forces us to use google products